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During the 1800's many farmers dreamed of a milking machine to ease the chore of hand milking. Dairy farmers were beginning to milk more cows in larger herds. By the year 1900, hundreds of patents had been granted for milking machines. But none of them proved to be worthy on the farm. Milking machines quickly developed a bad reputation for ruining good cows.

In 1892, S.M. Babcock, (inventor of the Babcock butterfat test), wrote in the National Dairyman "milking machines would result in poorer quality of milk and lowering the standards of dairy animals". In The Farmers Advocate, L.B. Arnold, secretary of the American Dairyman's Assoc., wrote about the great value of hand milking in the development of the bovine udder, and warned against resorting to machine milking.